Telling Our Story through Self-Study

The Middle States working groups are making excellent progress on each of the standards that are guiding our self-study. We are nearing the deadline for working groups to submit detailed outlines as a preliminary step towards their reports: December 1. This is an important step for each working group as they put together their reports, at which point we will begin compiling the final self-study document. Janine Utell and Anne Krouse will be sharing more updates and taking any questions at the General Faculty Meeting on November 16.

Part of what the working groups are doing is collecting data from a wide range of sources, drawing from a number of key documents as well as interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators. (We’ve seen the importance of the student perspective as well!) In their reports, the working groups will analyze the documents for evidence that we are fulfilling our mission, and they will make recommendations, based on the data, for how we can move forward with strategic priorities.

Members of the working groups are looking for exemplary, robust instances of things we do well here at Widener. These might be academic programs that evince coherence and rigor. They might be findings from a well-designed program of assessment. They might be documents that show a highly functioning system of governance and a commitment to leading with integrity. They might be areas of student support that reflect a dedication to collaborating across units to facilitate student success, along with findings that show evidence of that success.

The final self-study report will draw on all of this and more, highlighting examples that show us meeting the standards in an integrated and intentional way. Some of you reading may have already been contacted by a member of a working group to share insights regarding your program, your unit or area, or your work in governance. What other instances of Widener fulfilling its mission and doing it well might serve as good examples?